


In His Hands

by blueemissary



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, The Avengers - Ambiguous Fandom, The Incredible Hulk - All Media Types, Thor (Movies), Thor - All Media Types
Genre: BAMF Bruce Banner, M/M, Mild Injury, POV Bruce Banner, Protective Bruce Banner, Tumblr Prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-04
Updated: 2018-07-04
Packaged: 2019-06-04 23:03:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,347
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15157454
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blueemissary/pseuds/blueemissary
Summary: It's not an ideal situation for Bruce to be thrown into, especially since it's immediately after a particularly tiring Hulk-out. But then, with an unconscious Thor (unknowingly) depending on him to keep them both alive, he doesn't really have say in the matter.Also known as: The one where Bruce would really like a minute after waking up before someone tries speaking to him about their imminent / previous near-death experience.---Prompt"I didn't know you could do that"





	In His Hands

“Bruce?”

It takes Bruce a moment to register that someone is speaking to him.

“Hey, Bruce.”

Probably because he’s is a little too preoccupied with erratically scrabbling at the floor.

“You back yet?”

Bones cracking, muscles tightening painfully as he finished shrinking back into himself, Hulk’s roars still echoing in his ears.

“Not to rush you but I really could do with some help right now.”

He stays on his stomach for a moment, forehead and palms bracing him on the cool floor as he gulps in deep breath after deep breath. When he finally feels under control he forces his head to turn toward the voice, but it seems he’s still too weak to do much more and his cheek becomes squashed uncomfortably against the ground. From this angle he can just make out the fuzzy red silhouette stood next to him at the edge of his peripheral, just a few feet away. Still talking. Waiting for his answer.

He takes another deep breath and then swallows a lump, willing himself to become more coherent. When he finally gets something out it’s rough and slurred.

“... what?”

Tony grimaces at him, and quirks his shoulder. Or at least he tries to; he doesn’t get very far with the motionless Iron Man suit -  which also happens to be half embedded in the wall - encasing it.

“Help. Please.”

Groaning, Bruce braces himself again and somehow manages to push himself onto his haunches. The room spins sickeningly but a grounding hand on the wall helps him to find his bearings and stop the subconscious rocking of his body.

“Steady.” Tony intones. Rather unhelpfully, Bruce thinks, as he stumbles to his feet.

Finally, the nausea lets up a little and he makes it to Tony’s suit in five long, dragging steps. It’s slow, clunky work trying to manipulate the battered manual release on Tony’s suit, but Bruce is used to having to push himself post-hulk out.

Especially when he’s under a time limit.

“Ow.”  

He grips a hand onto his head where the falling rubble had landed on him and looks up, finally noticing the large flakes of dust raining down from ominous cracks in the ceiling.

“Yeah, I think Hulk may have caused some structural damage.”

With no other option than to keep working as quickly as he can, Bruce yanks off a piece of the chest plate and asks the dreaded question. “What happened?”

Tony fails at another nonchalant shrug. “That big space monster thing we’ve been looking for got the drop on us. Right up until Hulk came out, things got a little close. Even Thor couldn’t stop it -”

“Thor?” Bruce suddenly becomes sharp, worried. “Where -?” He looks around the room wildly and sure enough his gaze lands on a patch of red peeking out behind a pile of rubble. Immediately, he drops what he’s working on and rushes over to Thor’s side. There’s a clank behind him as Tony manages to finish the job and free his arm, but Bruce ignores him, fingers on Thor’s wrist, holding it in both hands and praying to god-knows-who for a pulse.

“I’m sure he’s fine.” Tony grunts, pulling his left leg free. “He’s taken worse hits than that.” Bruce isn’t listening.

Finally, he feels a pulse and a spark of relief jolts through Bruce, although he still doesn’t let go of Thor’s wrist.

“We need to get out of here,” he says.

Together they somehow manage to manoeuvre Thor so that he’s slung across their backs, an arm around each of their shoulders and his feet dragging behind them as they trudge down the cracked and crumbling corridor. Nothing in his surroundings clues Bruce in to where they actually are, but he doesn’t ask, keeping all of his energy focused on lifting Thor .

They manage just less than five minutes of dragging before everything goes to shit.

A tremor shakes the building, sending all three of them sprawling to the floor. Tony rolls aside to avoid a particularly large chunk of stone while Bruce instinctively wraps Thor’s torso in his arms and bends over in an attempt to shield him with his own body as the chunks of ceiling rain down on them gradually become bigger and bigger.

As each one hits him a roaring begins to build in Bruce’s ears. Distantly he hears someone shout his name, but he doesn’t respond, too preoccupied with thoughts of Thor’s life in his hands to acknowledge it. Beneath Bruce, Thor’s chest rises and falls, his heart beats steadily and it’s now up to Bruce to keep it that way. But he’s just not strong enough, he can’t do it, he’s failed, ruined everything - _but we need to get Thor out NOW!_

A deep shout of frustration tears from Bruce’s throat and his eye’s blaze a bright green to match the skin on his arms that have wrapped themselves around and beneath Thor, lifting him over Bruce’s shoulder as he uses an inhuman amount of strength to push himself to his feet.

“Holy -- I didn’t know you could do that.”

Tony seems to have momentarily forgotten about their imminent burial, so Bruce reminds him with a fierce shout to **_run_ ** that sounds much too deep to be his own voice. Then he sets off on his own, dodging as much falling debris as he can and jumping over already fallen lumps of stone.

Somehow, despite the extra weight, Bruce manages to catch up to Tony and the three of them just manage to get to a safe distance before the first wall completely caves in.

This is when Bruce drops to his knees, gasping for breath and leaning over sideways to roll Thor off his shoulder as the strength drains from his limbs and his eyes fade back to brown. Exhausted, he slumps over and drops his head to Thor’s chest, ear pressed to his sternum to listen to his still beating heart. Because he needs the proof.

He lies like that for several minutes, watching detachedly until the crashing stops with a final cloud of dust. He closes his eyes for a second, to protect them as it ripples towards him.

He doesn’t open them again when a jet lands nearby. Nor when the medical team lifts him limply from Thor’s prone body.

…

“Looks like you’re my hero.”

Will anyone ever wait for his brain to catch up before they start speaking to him?

“Sorry, I thought you were awake.”

Bruce’s eyes snap open. To his right a slightly red, but otherwise unharmed Thor is sitting up in a cot identical to his own. There’s an IV machine next to him but no lines in either of them, so Bruce assumes everything is fine and he’d just collapsed from the usual post-hulk out exhaustion.

Although…

This hulk out had been a little different.

“So I’ve heard. Tony said your arms went completely green. I wish I’d been there.” Thor chuckles.

Bruce groans and flushes, clamping his mouth shut, not trusting himself to speak until he’s sure the fuzz has completely faded from his head and he won’t be spilling any more thoughts out loud.

“When did you wake up?” he eventually asks.

“About an hour ago. The healers here have insisted I stay bedridden for the rest of the day.” Thor rolls his eyes in a _can you believe it_ gesture and shrugs. “While ordinarily I’d ignore them, I decided to stay here with you.”

“Uh… thanks?”

“No.” Bruce jumps at the intensity in Thor’s voice. It’s firm and sincere. Much the opposite of Thor’s expression… there's a softness in his eyes that Bruce has never seen on him before. “Thank _you.”_ And with that, Thor rolls himself out of his cot and swiftly deposits himself on Bruce’s, lacing their hands together and staring at the SHIELD logo on the door opposite them like it’s the most interesting thing in the world. After a second of bewildered hesitation, Bruce smiles shyly and tightens their grip.

And as the small smile grows on his face, his eyes momentarily flicker a bright, radioactive green. 

**Author's Note:**

> ~~Y'all wanted a plot twist? Neither of them say the prompt line~~


End file.
